IBL

That stands for Israel Baseball League. Yes, there is professional baseball in Israel. For a country that cares about football (soccer) first and second, and then basketball third, The opening of a professional league in Israel was great news to this American's ears. Granted, the level of play is comparable to lower level "A" minor league ball in America, but baseball is baseball.

Here is a picture of the seats I took when I arrived at the end of the first inning.

As you can see, I could have moved up.

Special things about the IBL: Seven inning games. With the smaller rosters, it's good because a starting pitcher can go the full seven if pitching well. It doesn't wear on the pitching staff, which is good because they play six games every week.

If the game is tied after 7, there are no extra innings. Home run derby. I have yet to see one, so I don't know exactly how it works. I think three players from each team compete and a coach pitches to his own team.

Oh, some of the managers are famous. Art Shamsky and Ken Holtzman. Look 'em up.

Last, they have some funny promotions. Here's a picture of me doing some Israeli folk dancing during the 5th inning stretch with Dr. Ruth.


She's the short, old woman. In this game, there were two collisions at home plate. After the second one, the catcher got up screaming at the guy who ran him over and dropped an F-bomb loud enough for everyone to hear. Dr. Ruth takes the mic and says that it's a gentleman's game and if they play like gentlemen, she promises that they will have good sex for the rest of their lives. She then repeats this in Hebrew and French. Who knew that Dr. Ruth spoke at least three languages?

The next game I went to I saw this huge guy who looked kind of familiar. They announced his name as Julio Guerrero. Then it hit me. This guy looks just like Vlad Guerrero, but fatter and slower. Sure enough, it's his brother. I once said that Vlad guerrero looks like a gorilla (in a good way) because of his crazy hair and approach to baseball. Now I can watch his brother. He hits the same way. He swings at everything and hits it all hard.



Sadly, things aren't all roses. At the ballpark in Tel Aviv, they do not have hot dogs. However, they have sushi. I love sushi, but not at a ballgame. Get it out of here and give me a kosher hot dog.

I think this is long enough.